1 thought on “Dagon and Other Macabre Tales”

Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.I hated this book. I mean, I really hated this book. [...]

3.5Written in 1917, Dagon announces both The Call of Cthulhu and The Shadow Over Innsmouth. Inhabitants of Innsmouth were members of the Cult of Dagon. A short, but no less significant story.It is a testimony of a morphine addict of what brought him where he is and why he is contemplating suicide.'I cannot think of the deep sea without shuddering at the nameless things that may at this very moment be crawling and floundering on its slimy bed, worshipping their ancient stone idols and carving the [...]

One of Lovecraft's earlier stories, and the first one mentioning one of the so-called Elder Gods who become part of his "Cthulhu mythos."It's very short and full of the windy prose Lovecraft is famous for. A sailor whose cargo ship was sunk by a U-boat (this being World War I) is captured by Germans but escapes, and after falling asleep, wakes up on a big black slimy island that's apparently just been heaved up from the bottom of the ocean by a volcano. He hikes over the island until he discover [...]

The second in an omnibus trilogy I purchased, containing the complete stories of H. P. Lovecraft. DAGON AND OTHER MACABRE TALES collects together all of his shortest stories in a single, weighty volume. There are no less than 36 tales collected here, along with the excellent non-fiction essay, 'Supernatural Horror in Literature'.Some highlights:DAGON, inevitably. The tale has collected lots of critics over time, but I find it the quintessential Cthulhu story. The ending still captures a sense of [...]

I enjoyed a lot of these stories. I feel like there was a real variety within this collection, and I was introduced to several new styles that I didn't know Lovecraft attempted.Many of these stories were solid sci-fi, taking place on other planets. I found most of these just as entertaining as Lovecraft's horror. There were also stories that weren't horrific at all, but just rich descriptions of fantastic new lands that the author had created, I was reminded of Lord Dunsany's "Book of Wonder" an [...]

This was a very short story, but the writing is taut and transports you to a strange land vividly.Without wishing to spoil this, it reminded me a lot of 2001 A Space Odessey, with the mysterious appearance of apparently alien relics and the potential of the unknown.Whilst it was tied up neatly as a short story I feel this had the legs ot be developed, but I am starting to see how good Lovecraft's early work is.

Ah but who could fail to love the indescribable horrors and gothic terrors of Lovecraft? Well, quite a lot of people probably, but never mind them! These short stories are particularly interesting set out in chronological order they show a fair bit of the development of Lovecraft's innate style. And as you read ever more of his psychological horror stories one can't help but come to ponder the psychology of the man himself. Lovecraft was many things, conservative, anti-modernist and fundamentall [...]

There is no doubt that Lovecraft is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. References to his work and the worlds he created are abound in both the literary and cinematic media. Dagon and Other Macabre Tales is one of my favorite collections of his works. While best known for his works of the macabre, Lovecraft was also a remarkable Sci-Fi writer. This particular omnibus contains many of those stories alongside the expected horror. Not that any of the horrific images he creates [...]

Another classic set of tales by Lovecraft - an absolute must-read for any fan of the macabre. This volume contains some of my all-time favorite stories - lyrical and haunting: Herbert West - Reanimator, The Lurking Fear, The Hound. Ah, this is a delicious read. Why only four stars? Mostly because my favorite stories are his very early "macabre" works and his later mythos works. This anthology is chronological from 1917-1936. As such, it has a number of his dream-based works - From Beyond, The Ot [...]

A good collection of Lovecraft's tales. My only problem is that after reading a book of the cosmic horror author's work, I'm starting to see Koontz-like trends in some of his stories. Some of the stories are almost carbon-copies of each other. It's as if Lovecraft was constructing gospels, creating the alternative views of multiple authors.That being said, the man was a genius. You can't blame the pulp writers for recycling a few ideas.

And here's one more time through with the man who essentially proved that there is no scene so creepy that it can't be instantly made creepier with the additional of a couple sets of well-placed tentacles. The third of three volumes with the goal of every single scrap of fiction Lovecraft set to paper (and they take their job seriously, as two sections at the end contain early tales that barely last five pages and another collects some fragments that for one reason or another were abandoned . . [...]

I forgot how short this one is. Definitely one of his earliest, it's a testing of the waters (pun intended) for Cthulhu and Innsmouth. I like the ending though it's a little hard to see why he thought this was such a threat to humanity. I suppose that goes back to it being to awful to describe. Also the final lines of: "The window! The window!" remind me of Monty Python. Aside from that, the lumbering at the door is quite disturbing. And why Dagon? It's like he just picked that water god at rand [...]

I haven't had any interest in reading more Lovecraft in a long time, but this has been sitting on my shelf taunting me to pick it up for probably years at this point. For the most part, it's pretty bland compared to other Lovecraft collections I've read, though it admittedly has a much more far-ranging and interesting selection than those other collections. Really, I'd say this is pretty skippable - the only stories worth looking up are The Unnameable, which feels like Lovecraft going after his [...]

This collection of stories was, to be honest, mostly terrifying. I have to admit to some difficulty staying interested in many of the more outlandish ones (involving other realms), as I'm more character oriented than anything else, but some of these are truly, truly terrifying. My favorite would have to be "From Beyond," but that doesn't mean I disliked ANY of them. That was just the one that kept me most rapt.

Stories resemble dreams (or nightmares). You cannot distinguish from reality, even though you know they are not true.I highly suggest readers reading this book while listening to a Spotify playlist called 'Lovercraftian Atmos' (or some similar background music).

This could be a perfect reading for Halloween period, as there are many stories quite dark and scary. This is not necessarily my favored genre, but I relaxed and tried to enjoy the literary part from each of them. Some are capitalizing on mythology, either inventing one or using the greek or middle east myths. These were the stories I enjoyed most.After more careful consideration, I believe that disregarding the variety from these stories, the author wrote them to prove that there is something b [...]

The ancient house has always been there, and people say One dwells therein who talks with the morning mists that come up from the deep, and perhaps sees singular things oceanward at those times when the cliff’s rim becomes the rim of all earth, and solemn buoys toll free in the white aether of faery. This they tell from hearsay, for that forbidding crag is always unvisited, and natives dislike to train telescopes on it. Summer boarders have indeed scanned it with jaunty binoculars, but have ne [...]

This collection of 'macabre' tales (90% by Lovecraft) are a bit of a blast from the past. This omnibus is perhaps better read as a study on how 'horror' stories have changes in the intervening years.Unfortunately many of the tales are laughable by today's standard. The introduction spells this out, citing Lovecraft's lack of attention to character or setting, and the repetitiveness of his typical plot formula (curious adventurer is driven mad when he witnesses something supernatural.)Nonetheless [...]